Routt County

Operating rules

Primary residence

—

Min stay (nights)

30

Max nights / year

—

Max occupancy

—

Zoning-restricted

Yes

Cap on licenses

—

Grandfathering: None established. The ordinance recites that Short-Term Rentals 'have never been allowed in unincorporated Routt County without a permit or planned unit development approval,' so there is no legacy STR that predates a prohibition to grandfather.

Zoning: STRs are prohibited in all residential zone districts of unincorporated Routt County. They are permitted only in areas zoned Commercial, or via a special use permit, conditional use permit, a PUD plan that expressly allows STRs, or an existing permit for a use such as a bed and breakfast or guest ranch. A rental of one month / 30 days or more is not an STR and is allowed.

• The county STR definition threshold differs slightly by document: the Planning Department handout uses 'less than one month'; the Ordinance Regulating Vacation Rental Service defines a Short-Term Rental as a rental 'for a term or time period of less than thirty (30) days.' min_stay_nights is set to 30 (rent for 30 days / one month or more to fall outside the STR prohibition). Both quotes verified verbatim from the primary documents.
• There is no numeric cap on STR licenses because there is no STR license/registration program in unincorporated Routt County; STRs are prohibited outside the narrow zoning/permit exceptions.
• The Routt County Unified Development Code was adopted June 11, 2024 and became effective July 29, 2025 (dates confirmed from the county's own UDC document title 'Routt County UDC, Adopted June 11, 2024 V4 Effective July 29, 2025'); per county reporting the STR prohibition was retained. UDC section-level STR code language was not directly quote-verified in this pass (needs_review).
• The extracted ordinance is the first-reading version (styled 'ORDINANCE NO. 2024-00__', first reading June 11, 2024, second-reading date left blank). The final adopted ordinance number and exact effective date were not obtained as a primary source, BUT the ordinance's active enforcement is confirmed by Routt County Resolution 2025-079 (Oct 14, 2025). Final ordinance number / effective date = needs_review.
• This record applies to UNINCORPORATED Routt County only. Incorporated towns/cities (Steamboat Springs, Hayden, Oak Creek, Yampa) have their own STR ordinances and are separate jurisdictions.

Enforcement

Active enforcement

unknown

Fines

Under the Ordinance Regulating Vacation Rental Service (adopted pursuant to C.R.S. § 30-15-401; first reading June 11, 2024, confirmed in force by Routt County Resolution 2025-079 on Oct 14, 2025): 'Any advertisement listing a Short-Term Rental, including, but not limited to online rental services such as VRBO, Airbnb, Hipcamp, local management companies, social media, and newspapers, without a permit or approval is a violation.' A Vacation Rental Service that fails to remove an unpermitted/invalid/expired/revoked or prohibited STR listing within seven (7) calendar days of county notification 'shall be deemed a civil infraction and subject to a fine of one thousand dollars ($1000.00) for each separate violation. Each day is considered a separate violation for as long as the violation(s) continue.' A Vacation Rental Service convicted of a violation also owes a $10 surcharge to the victims-and-witnesses assistance and law-enforcement fund (C.R.S. 24-4.2-103). Remedies are non-exclusive and cumulative at the Planning Department's discretion.

Notes

The $1,000/day fine in the ordinance is expressly directed at the Vacation Rental Service (platform) that fails to remove a listing after county notice; the ordinance separately makes unpermitted advertising/listing a 'violation' but does not, in the reviewed text, set a distinct per-day dollar fine on the individual owner/advertiser (owner exposure is via land-use/UDC enforcement and the general prohibition). Verified verbatim from the ordinance.